The British and Irish Lions tour of Australia 2025

[UKHamlet]

2025 Lions Tour to Australia (kick off times TBC)

• 28 June, Lions vs Western Force, Perth (Optus Stadium)
  2 July, Lions vs Queensland Reds, Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium)
  5 July, Lions vs NSW Waratahs, Sydney (Allianz Stadium)
  9 July, Lions vs ACT Brumbies, Canberra (GIO Stadium)
  12 July, Lions vs Invitational AU & NZ, Adelaide (Adelaide Oval)
  19 July, 1st Test, Lions vs Wallabies, Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium)
  22 July, Lions vs Melbourne Rebels, Melbourne (Marvel Stadium)
  26 July, 2nd Test, Lions vs Wallabies, Melbourne (Melbourne Cricket Ground/MCG)
  2 Aug, 3rd Test, Lions vs Wallabies, Sydney (Accor Stadium)

[Puja]

Huzzah! Thanks Hammy!

Puja

[Sandydragon]

Nice one Hammy

[Danno]

Not sure if anyone is watching the team announcement stream but jeebus blimmin crikey it is horribly dull. And it was £65 a ticket.

[Fungineer]

Agreed, team was supposed to be announced at 1.30pm then it was 1.45pm and now it's 2.15pm and they're still filling airtime with waffle and nonsense. Probably need to justify the £65 ticket price.

[Mikey Brown]

Forwards:

MARO ITOJE (c) (ENG)

Tadhg Beirne (IRE)

Ollie Chessum (ENG)

Jack Conan (IRE)

Luke Cowan-Dickie (ENG)

Scott Cummings (SCO)

Tom Curry (ENG)

Ben Earl (ENG)

Zander Fagerson (SCO)

Tadhg Furlong (IRE)

Ellis Genge (ENG)

Ronan Kelleher (IRE)

Joe McCarthy (IRE)

Jac Morgan (WAL)

Henry Pollock (ENG)

Andrew Porter (IRE)

James Ryan (IRE)

Pierre Schoemann (SCO)

Dan Sheehan (IRE)

Will Stuart (ENG)

Josh van der Flier (IRE)

Backs:

Bundee Aki (IRE)

Elliot Daly (ENG)

Tommy Freeman (ENG)

Jamison Gibson-Park (IRE)

Mack Hansen (IRE)

Huw Jones (SCO)

Hugo Keenan (IRE)

Blair Kinghorn (SCO)

James Lowe (IRE)

Alex Mitchell (ENG)

Garry Ringrose (IRE)

Finn Russell (SCO)

Fin Smith (ENG)

Marcus Smith (ENG)

Sione Tuipulotou (SCO)

Duhan van der Merwe (SCO)

Tomos Williams (WAL)

[bruce]

Elliot feckin Daly...!

[TheNomad]

Feel sorry for Ben Curry

Elliot Daly can consider himself very lucky, IMO.

LCD over George - not sure about that

Marcus Smith over Ford too - a little harsh

[Danno]

This is excruciating

[Puja]

Ellis Genge (ENG)
Andrew Porter (IRE)
Pierre Schoemann (SCO)

Luke Cowan-Dickie (ENG)
Ronan Kelleher (IRE)
Dan Sheehan (IRE)

Zander Fagerson (SCO)
Tadhg Furlong (IRE)
Will Stuart (ENG)

MARO ITOJE (c) (ENG)
Tadhg Beirne (IRE)
Ollie Chessum (ENG)
Scott Cummings (SCO)
Joe McCarthy (IRE)
James Ryan (IRE)

Jack Conan (IRE)
Tom Curry (ENG)
Jac Morgan (WAL)
Ben Earl (ENG)
Henry Pollock (ENG)
Josh van der Flier (IRE)


Backs:

Jamison Gibson-Park (IRE)
Alex Mitchell (ENG)
Tomos Williams (WAL)

Finn Russell (SCO)
Fin Smith (ENG)
Marcus Smith (ENG)

Bundee Aki (IRE)
Huw Jones (SCO)
Garry Ringrose (IRE)
Sione Tuipulotou (SCO)

Elliot Daly (ENG)
Tommy Freeman (ENG)
Mack Hansen (IRE)
Hugo Keenan (IRE)
Blair Kinghorn (SCO)
James Lowe (IRE)
Duhan van der Merwe (SCO)

[Spiffy]

No room for Darcy Graham, possibly the best all-round wing.
Back row needs more proper big 6s/8s. No need for all of Curry, Morgan, Earl, Pollock and VDF.

[Mikey Brown]

Feel sorry for Ben Curry

Elliot Daly can consider himself very lucky, IMO.

He had a great six nations to be fair. Three time tourist, goal kicker and covering 3 positions goes a long way I imagine.

Seems crazy George didn’t get in.

Gutted for Ritchie, Darge and Ben Curry but the competition was mad.

Cummings is a shock, but he’s a great player if fully fit. Sadly fitness is a concern for most of the Scottish boys. Zander, Sione, Huw and Blair all currently out as well.

[Mikey Brown]

No room for Darcy Graham, possibly the best all-round wing.
Back row needs more proper big 6s/8s. No need for all of Curry, Morgan, Earl, Pollock and VDF.

Yeah, both Earl and Pollock in particular seems like overkill.

[Puja]

Initial thoughts:

Thank fuck no Fazlet
Ford was robbed.
LCD? Uhhh, yeah sure, I suppose so.
I can see an argument for Daly in terms of versatility and experience, but I'm mostly glad he's not going to be blocking a position on England's tour to Argentina
There are 6 locks and 6 back row, the latter of which has no big carriers, which suggests that Farrell's reaction to the unprecedented amount of quality back rows available to him is going to be to pick a lock there.
Only one France-based player. Makes sense, given the overlap and Kinghorn is probably good enough to be worth waiting for.

There's a very good Lions XV that can be picked out of that lot. Can't help but feel it's an uninspiring selection though.

Puja

[Stom]

Initial thoughts:

Thank fuck no Fazlet
Ford was robbed.
LCD? Uhhh, yeah sure, I suppose so.
I can see an argument for Daly in terms of versatility and experience, but I'm mostly glad he's not going to be blocking a position on England's tour to Argentina
There are 6 locks and 6 back row, the latter of which has no big carriers, which suggests that Farrell's reaction to the unprecedented amount of quality back rows available to him is going to be to pick a lock there.
Only one France-based player. Makes sense, given the overlap and Kinghorn is probably good enough to be worth waiting for.

There's a very good Lions XV that can be picked out of that lot. Can't help but feel it's an uninspiring selection though.

Puja

What was going to be an inspiring selection, though?

I'm glad that LCD, Earl, and Daly are going. Good news for England.

[Galfon]

Looking for decent no.8 options there..
Playing in the elite French league appears to be a bridge-breaker,
& surprised Daly over Jordan, and no Graham, and taking both Smiffs but not GF.
Pleased for likes of Schoeman, Stuart, Cow n'Chicken, Cummings and Earl but poor old Ben C lost in Tom's shadow yet again
Having said that, the player loss rate through injury seems to go up each tour, so we can expect 6 - 12 replacements maybe before tour out.. so some of the above omissions may get their chance.

[paddy no 11]

LCD

Can freeman play both wings please

[Oakboy]

I'd guess that the Australians are pleased they will not be facing Willis and Willis at 7 and 8.

[normanski]

The only good thing about having only two Welshmen in the squad is that there will be a fuller squad of rising youngsters getting experience in Japan. Also the list of crocked Welsh Lions in the autumn will be incredibly small!

[Mr Mwenda]

I agree about much that has been said here. Slightly nonplussed that antipodean and saffa accents outnumber Welsh.

I feel most for Ford, I hope he is next in line.

I'd've taken Graham over Hansen.

However, the team looks strong and I am interested in seeing how they'll play. Marrying the different styles and combos will be great to see. I hope he goes for a Scottish midfield.

[paddy no 11]

Yeah hansen is very lucky has had a terrible season

Darcy at least when fit has been good

Freeman on right wing and one of the two oompa loompas on the left I suppose

[Epaminondas Pules]

There's a few who can count themselves pretty lucky and some very unlucky to miss out. Seems we're hedging bets on injuries healing or there's a good 5/6 replacements being warmed already. Really feel for Doris missing out. Tighthead worries me. With Fagerson's injury, Furlong's only recent return and being far from the player we know and love.

LCD is in some superb form, and has tour experience. Makes sense for him alongside the Irish lads.

Feels like a lot of flankers and then makeshift 8s.

Daly, Smith (M) and Ryan all rather lucky duckies! Graham very unlucky! Ford same.

[paddy no 11]

If I was aussie I'd be looking at that backrow and say there isn't a decent lineout operator in it, Ritchie and ccs unlucky at 6

Also the antipodean quota could easily have been reduced by leaving out bundee, jgp and hansen. All readily replaceable

[morepork]

James O’Conner back in the mix for Oz selection. He has inexplicably become the cool head in a Crusaders comeback in Soup Pacific rugby. Schmidt may be laying down a conservative ambush.

[Mikey Brown]

Fucking hell. James Ryan is in there. That completely passed me by. WTF?

Again the lack of heavy carrying 8s beyond Conan is odd. Or lineout jumping options. Not even Baird as a 6 instead of Ryan. I guess Chessum could fill that role.